New Covid viewing policy and client advice

Viewing policy

Please confirm ahead of your viewing that you or anybody in your household has not had any COVID-19 symptoms within the last 14 days.

This confirmation is required before your viewing and without it this can not go ahead.

For your safety we have also asked the same of our clients and our colleagues.

The viewing itself will be limited to 15 / 20 minutes maximum and all parties should avoid any contact of doors and hard surfaces and must observe the two metre social distancing guidelines at all times.

We should have masks available and disposable gloves if needed and the owner has been asked to either not be present for the viewing or isolate themselves in the garden or their car during the visit.

We cannot allow people from different households to view and would request that children are not present if at all possible.

We are currently not in a position to conduct viewings for those that are outside of our normal geographical location that have yet to agree their own sale.

Again for safety we cannot conduct an open house style viewing and it may be that we have just conducted a previous visit so please allow us time to disinfect any necessary areas and stay in your vehicle until the set time of your visit.

The safety of all concerned is our highest priority and working together this can be achieved.

Client Advice for now and the future

In light of the relaxing of the lock-down rules for the property market we have considered how to move forward to keep everyone as safe as possible and help get you safely moved.

If however you would like to keep all visits to your property on hold for the time being, that is fine, just let us know.

There will be 2 parts:

1) Virtual 360 Tours initially where possible

2) Physical viewings from proceedable and local buyers

The coronavirus hasn’t gone away. As such we will need to remain very Covid-19 alert but we do have a plan.

Phase 1: Virtual Live 360 Tours

Our aim is to have every property ‘Virtually Toured’ which will be sent to interested parties on request and ahead of a physical visit for best safety to reduce the number of actual viewings to those that fully understand the property and suitability.

You can watch an example video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOz6423C7pM this was completed by our client and a sale agreed, if you are comfortable producing your own video either with or without commentary we can use this on request or we can complete ourselves before or after the next viewing for you.

In addition Niche who look after our photography have a new video service enabling buyers to have a ‘ virtual viewing ‘ this is free of charge with new photography orders , an example can be seen here GO TO VIEW

It is quite likely the “I didn’t realise the garden was so overlooked” or similar feedback will be solved by a Virtual Viewing.
Our expectation is that from 4 viewing requests and 4 virtual viewings, only 2 physical viewings will go ahead to ensure the right people visit.

The Virtual Tours will also be a great solution for potential buyers who are still isolating or are worried about leaving home. We also feel consumer habits are may change after this so virtual tours could become expected for property marketing in the future.

Phase 2: Proceedable and local buyers only

If after a virtual viewing the potential buyer is still keen to view and in a ‘proceedable’ position i.e. their current property under offer or nothing to sell this will be arranged , our experience also shows that a local buyer that may need to sell first can often be the best buyer at the best price because they were waiting for a house in a specific road or area.

All viewings will be with social distance measures and we will have asked health questions ahead of the visit and will be restricted to people from the same household , viewings will be limited to 15/20 minutes for safety and we would suggest you are not in the house , either out or if home in the garden or the car. Our colleagues will have hand sanitisers, wipes and masks, disposable gloves will be available though are not specified by the Government.

We would request that all internal doors are open including areas that a viewer may want to inspect.

IMPORTANT: We advise to ensure all personal/valuable belongings are out of sight and safely secured away as due to the 2 metre rule we may be unable to go into every room with the viewer.

IMPORTANT: If anyone in your property develops Covid-19 related symptoms, please let us know immediately so we can pause viewings on your property.

Please be assured we will always place both yours and our colleagues’ health and welfare above all other considerations and I hope that we can rely on your support as we discover the ‘new normal’ and adapted ways to work.